Radio frequency cables (“coaxial cables”) are used for transmitting high frequency signals in such electrical applications as telephones, personal computers and the like in order to transmit a large volume of information. FIGS. 13 and 14 show a conventional coaxial cable, generally designated 16. The coaxial cable includes a signal line 18 which is comprised of a center or inner conductor 20 surrounded by an inner insulator or dielectric cover 22. An outer conductive shield 24 surrounds signal line 18 and consists of a plurality of braided wires. An outer insulator or covering 26 covers the outer conductive shield. In order to terminate coaxial cable 16, inner insulator 22 is stripped or cut-back to expose inner conductor 20, and outer insulator or covering 26 is stripped or cut back to expose outer conductive shield 24.
FIG. 15 shows how coaxial cable 16 might be connected to associated contacts 28a and 28b. Inner conductor 20 is connected by soldering 30a to contact 28a, and outer conductive shield 24 is connected to contact 28b by soldering 30b. The outer conductive shield typically is twisted into a strand, as shown, and then soldered to contact 28b. 
Coaxial cables have diversified over the years, and it has become increasingly common to use a composite flat cable consisting of a plurality of coaxial cables 16 in a generally planar or flat array, for termination to a linear array of contacts in an associated connector. When the flat cable is connected to contacts by soldering methods as described above, the number of assembly steps increases as the number of coaxial cables increase. In addition, differences arise in the characteristics of the individual coaxial cables due to variations in the amount of soldering used for each cable, making it impossible to achieve uniform performance of all of the coaxial cables. Still further, despite the large number of coaxial cables used in flat composite cables, such electronic apparatus as mobile telephones and personal computers are being increasingly miniaturized. Therefore, there is a limit as to what can be achieved with conventional solder connection technology for establishing connections between the contacts of a connector and the multiple conductors of a flat composite coaxial cable.
FIG. 16 shows a prior art connector, generally designated 32, which is designed to alleviate some of the above problems. As shown, a plurality of coaxial cables 16 are arranged in a flat or linear array and include a plurality of individual inner conductors (not visible in the drawings) terminated to a plurality of contacts 34 of the connector. The conductive shields 24 of the coaxial cables are arranged in a side-by-side array and held between a pair of metal plates 36 to effect soldering. The metal plates serve as a common ground for the plurality of coaxial cables and are commonly called “ground bars”.
Even with the technology of FIG. 16, it still is necessary to solder the conductive shields of coaxial cables 16 to ground bars 36. In addition, the conductive shields may disadvantagely harden when the solder material is drawn onto the braided wires of the shields when so-called solder wicking occurs. The resulting loss of flexibility of the braided wires causes a loss in flexibility of the coaxial cables which, in turn, detracts from the usability of the coaxial cables because routing of the coaxial cables becomes difficult or it becomes difficult to arrange the coaxial cables within a confined space in the interior of a portable electronic apparatus. Still further, cracking may develop in the solder connections if excessively large external forces are applied to the hardened areas of the braided wires. Recent portable devices, such as portable telephones, have achieved compactness by allowing users to fold the devices into halves. Therefore, if hardening occurs due to solder wicking, it becomes difficult to open and close the portable device at a hinge portion and contact failure can occur. The present invention is directed to solving the above myriad of problems.
Examples of the prior art are shown in Japanese patent documents JP 2000-260497 A, JP 11-260439 A and JP 11-260440 A.